A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications services, and more particularly to a method and system for efficiently accessing messaging services.
B. Description of Related Art and Advantages of the Invention
Telephone answering devices (TAD) such as message answering machines have become a popular way for users of telephone subscribers to retrieve messages left by callers who have called while no one was available to answer the telephone. Once the message answering machine is setup, its easy to use. By pressing a button, a user can play any messages left by callers.
The problem with such a TAD is that callers are not able to leave messages while another caller is already leaving a message. In addition, callers cannot leave messages while the subscriber is using the telephone. The caller receives a busy signal unless the called party subscribes to a “call-waiting” service. If the called party subscribes to a call-waiting service and is on the telephone when another call comes in, the caller would get a ring. The TAD, however, is still not able to record a message. The TAD may therefore be inadequate for recording messages particularly in business environments in which a subscriber may receive a large number of telephone calls.
Alternatives TAD are available in most office environments. A popular alternative is a voice mail system allowing subscribers to receive messages in voice mailboxes. Voice mail systems allow subscribers to receive, edit and forward messages to one or more mailboxes within the voice mail system.
Voice mail systems are available as stand-alone or integrated systems. Stand-alone systems are similar to answering machines except that the voice mailboxes communicate with one another to make it possible to forward messages from one voice mailbox to another. Integrated voice mail systems typically connect a caller to the called party's mailbox after a certain number of rings. Integrated voice mail systems are preferred because they can provide the capability of receiving messages while the phone is being used, or even while another caller is leaving a message.
Initially, voice mail systems were implemented in private branch exchanges (PBX) or other telephone systems local to the users. Telecommunications service providers also offer messaging services or the capability of making third-party messaging services available to its subscribers. The subscribers may subscribe to the voice mail service and receive a special telephone number for accessing the customer mailbox. Early messaging services were typically implemented in local switches. Some providers use a voice messaging platform supplied by the telecommunications provider or by a third-party to offer messaging services. The voice-messaging platform contains voice mailboxes to which callers are connected when a called telephone number goes unanswered. The voice-messaging platform is also accessible to subscribers via the telephone number for voice mail. The user may access the voice mailbox to which it is assigned from any telephone in the network.
The advantage of using the messaging services provided by telecommunications service providers is that it makes voice mail available to all customers and not just to organizations or businesses having a local voice mail system. Furthermore, the voice mail system provided by the telecommunications service providers will connect a caller to a voice mailbox even when the telephone is being used.
One problem with the voice mail system provided by service providers is that a user must dial either a 7 or 10 digit telephone number to access and retrieve messages. This is inconvenient to customers who would prefer the ease of simply pressing one button on the answering machine.
It would be desirable to provide a voice mail service that will permit the customer to access messages with a dialing sequence that is shorter than a full telephone number.
Some switch-based voice mail systems permit a customer to access messages using a two or three digit sequence. Switch-based systems, however, are not practical in a multi-vendor telephone network. Telephone switches in the United States and other multi-vendor networks must provide access to different service providers.
It would be desirable to provide a voice mail service that is not switch-based and that permits access to mailboxes using a short dialing sequence.